


Airport

by Orphicadmium



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Dave misses Karkat, Long-Distance Relationship, M/M, They're both huge messes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-16
Updated: 2020-03-16
Packaged: 2021-03-01 01:33:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,320
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23167042
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Orphicadmium/pseuds/Orphicadmium
Summary: A year was too long to spend without your best friend. Without your boyfriend.
Relationships: Dave Strider/Karkat Vantas
Comments: 4
Kudos: 67
Collections: Karkat Thirst Valentine's Day Gift Exchange 2020





	Airport

Your hands were shaking hard enough you couldn’t pretend otherwise in front of Rose. She shot you a questioning look, the way she always did, but mercifully continued to pour milk over her fruit loops without any comments. You weren’t sure you could keep yourself together if she did say anything. She left the room shooting you with a knowing look.

CG: HEY DUMBASS.  
CG: PICK ME UP AT THE AIRPORT AT TEN.  
CG: I KNOW YOURE AWAKE I CAN SEE YOURE ONLINE.  
CG: I CALLED ROSE TO VERIFY YOU DIDNT HAVE ANYTHING TO DO TODAY.  
TG: please dont be a prank  
CG: YOUVE BEEN WHINING ABOUT THIS FOR WEEKS DAVE.  
CG: *NO.*  
CG: ITS *NOT* A PRANK.  
CG: DONT BE LATE.

For the first time in a long while, Karkat was unimaginably close to you. You weren’t expecting his almost-presence to tug at your heartstrings so hard.

You were seeing Karkat again.

A year was too long to spend without your best friend. Without your boyfriend.

When he had moved into the house next to yours with his dad, you were excited, even if you tried to hide it. You’d never met anyone else who was like you before. You knew other trans people existed, of course, but it had always seemed like something that didn’t happen in Skaia to anyone that wasn't you. But then Karkat had moved in, and he understood in a way your family, for all their love and support, just couldn't. He was loud and boisterous and a bit of an asshole, but he was kind to you. It didn’t take long for you two to become inseparable. However, Karkat had always been too smart to stay here in the middle of nowhere and study at Skaia community college. When he climbed into your window brandishing the acceptance letter from his dream school, pride had bloomed in your chest. Somewhere deep inside, you knew he’d have to leave, but you ignored the little nugget of dread for his sake. He left, of course, and seeing Karkat off at the airport had made your stomach turn itself inside out, heart pounding for you to grab him, to stop him, to keep him next to you for the rest of eternity, but he had been smiling so widely you knew you had to let him go. 

It took about three and a half months for your resolve to break. You’d practically begged Karkat to take a vacation, to come back home, just for a weekend. You knew he needed the money his job offered him to pay for college, but you were desperate. You’d even offered to get your family to cover his expenses, but he’d refused to, in his words, ‘be taken pity on by a bunch of rich weirdos. Do you want me to choke on your family’s pity boners, Dave? Do you?’. You’d immediately responded by pointing out twelve year old him had a hate-crush on Rose, thirteen year old him had a horribly embarrassing and painfully obvious crush on Roxy, fourteen year old him had a temporary infatuation with Dirk, of all people, and eighteen year old him was currently dating you. All the evidence pointed to him indeed wanting to suck your family’s pity boner.

It took you all of four seconds to realise that what you had said was awkward, disturbing and more-than-slightly incestuous, or at leatsmore so than your conversations usually were. Karkat’s silence indicated he had reached the same conclusion. You both agreed to never speak of it again, and you had gone back to begging him to take a much-needed vacation. He was working full time while studying at one of the country's most rigorous institutions, you argued. Overworking himself would only lead to a burn out. He’d shut down all of your attempts at negotiation.

The last thing you expected was to receive a message from him asking you to pick him up from the airport in four hours. It was a prank. It had to be, but Karkat didn’t do pranks, and you couldn’t help but believe him when he said as much. You began to type, hands shaking so violently that it was a miracle your response was even legible.

TG: dont worry princess  
TG: ill be there at eight on the dot.

Tears fell on your phone screen. When did you start crying?  
__________________________  
It didn’t take long for the jumble of emotions that had made their home in the pit that was your stomach to solidify into something more concrete. It was like a burning need, consuming you until you couldn’t think of anything else that wasn’t Karkat. His laugh rang in your ears as you remembered how his dark hair always shone red when the sun hit it just so, or when you remembered the face he made when you bothered him while he was doing homework. If you didn’t see him soon, you felt as if you could actually die. The intensity of your emotions scared you. 

Your body lagged behind your brain, clumsy and imprecise. Task you did yesterday in five minutes now took you ten, and the frustration of your body betraying you was unbearable. It was nine by the time you left the house, and the ride to the airport would take at least thirty minutes without traffic.

Now that he was here, here here, or would be in a few minutes, it all felt...surreal. Like it was all a particularly sluggish, wonderful dream. The all-consuming need made way for the anxiety to set in. Fuck, should you get him flowers? He was your boyfriend! What kind of partner would you be if you didn’t get him something?

You stopped at one of those peculiar little pharmacies that sold everything, including the kitchen sink, but were always out of milk. It would only take a few minutes, you reasoned. You’d get some chocolate and flowers and be right out. 

After about twenty minutes, you finally settled on a bag of those fun sized Kit-Kats, only partially because Karkat loved them. The pun was just too good to pass up. In your other hand, you clasped an arrangement consisting of poppies (Karkat’s favorites) and white roses (Also Karkat’s favorites.). Other bits of foliage completed the surprisingly decent bouquet.

By the time you’d paid for everything, it was already fifteen past ten. Oh well, Karkat would have no choice but to swoon at your Striderly charms as you strode into the airport, gifts in hand, right?

Yeah, Karkat was an absolute sucker for romance. He would forgive you. He’d always loved flowers after all.

But what if he’d grown to hate them?

What if you didn’t know he hated them because you had been neglecting your relationship? What if he just didn’t feel all that close to you anymore?

What if he’d stopped loving you?

Realization dawned on you, freezing you fingers to the steering wheel. Oh god, what if he wanted to break up? What if the reason he finally came was because he was tired of you being annoying and was going to end it all? Why else would he reject the possibility of taking a vacation, only to fly in with so little warning on a Friday? Karkat believed in romance. He’d never break up with someone unless it was in person. 

And now you were panicking.

Great thinking there, Strider. 

Breathe.

Karkat wasn’t going to break up with you. He wouldn’t. You hoped as much, at least.

Breathe.

Slow down.

The airport was visible now. You’d be there in a minute at most. Where did he want to meet up again?

Gate 4:13. Right. Like John’s birthday.

You drove up to the arranged location, lowering your passenger side window. You scanned the crowd of people moving in and out, looking for the familiar mop of unkempt hair that would indicate Karkat was waiting for you. You finally spotted him leaning against a beam, looking uncertain.

You picked up your phone to call Karkat. Under the message where he’d outlined the pickup site, you could see he’d been messaging you.

CG: WHERE ARE YOU?  
CG: DAVE?  
CG: IM AT THE GATE.  
CG: DID YOU FORGET?  
CG: ARE YOU ON YOUR WAY AT LEAST?  
CG: DAVE?  
CG: THIS WAS A STUPID IDEA.  
CG: IM SORRY.  
CG: I SHOULDNT HAVE COME.

Your stomach sank. You should have gotten here earlier, not thirty minutes past ten. Idiot. You know how insecure Karkat is about this kind of stuff, and yet you do it anyways. You dialed his number like a madman.

You could fix this.

You saw him answer, and, sure enough, his voice reached your ear a second later.

“Dave? Where the fuck are you?” Karkat sounded angry at first, but you could hear the wavering tone his voice had. He was crying, you realized. Seven years of knowing him also meant knowing all of his tells, and his voice was doing the thing it did when he was upset, where he softened the last letter of his words almost to the point of cutting them out entirely. You were horrible.

“Look up, babe” You said, trying to make your voice as gentle as possible.

He did, and although he brightened like a puppy with a new chew toy immediately, you could vaguely make out that his eyes where red and puffy. He had been crying.

You were absolutely horrible, making Karkat wait for so long. You should have been here on time, or at least let him know you were on your way. Fuck, why didn’t you think of that before? You’re a moron.

He hung up and made his way over to your car, dragging his suitcase behind him. 

He finally, finally, reached the car.

You stepped out to help him haul his suitcase into the trunk, and once that was done, you both just stood there for a few seconds, staring at each other. There was so much you wanted to say, so much you wanted to apologize for, but the words clung to your throat so tightly you could only feed the silence.

You surprised yourself by lunging forwards suddenly, wrapping him in a tight hug.

You’d forgotten how utterly calming his presence was, and for a second, the warm recess of his arms was enough to make you forget your guilt. I didn’t last, and soon enough it barreled back into your chest like a sledgehammer.

“I’m so sorry, Kat. I’m so fucking sorry.”

“It’s ok,” Karkat sniffled “It’s not like you abandoned me.’’

“You were crying, Karkat! It’s not fine! I should have been here!”

Karkat was silent for a moment, Thinking. He had probably realized what you did was horrible and he should hate you for it. Your heart was racing. He was going to break up with you and you would deserve it. Even with the knowledge that it was your own fault, the thought still felt like it had stripped your heart bare.

Then, he placed his hand on your shoulder. He was gentle, rubbing small circles into your skin. It was grounding, painfully familiar in the way only Karkat could be.

“Dave, love, you’re having an anxiety attack.” He was speaking a bit slower than he usually did, and then it all fell into place.

He was right. It was an anxiety attack. You hadn’t had one in years. You suddenly became very aware of both your shallow breathing and your shaking.

“Dave, love, breathe.” Karkat brought your hand and pressed it against his chest, over his heart. He was taking deep breaths, you could feel how his chest rose and fell with them. This was familiar. Karkat was familiar. He’d done this before. He wanted you to follow his breathing. That you could do.

Slowly, the feeling of impending doom receded. It took a good few minutes, and even if it was still there, creeping at the corners of your mind, it was under control for now. You still felt like shit for abandoning Karkat, though. Hopefully the gifts would make it up to him somewhat.

You leaned forwards to pull him into a hug. God, you’d missed this. You’d missed this so much. You missed hugging him, and holding him, and kissing him. You missed seeing Karkat smile and burying your face into his hair. You missed his oversized sweaters.

You had missed him.

“I missed you. Love you,” you murmured straight into Karkat’s neck.

“I missed you too. I love you.”

“I brought you something. It’s on the passenger seat, you can go take a look if you want.”

“Mhmn,” Karkat hummed, but he didn’t pull away.

It took several minutes before you were both hugged-out. For some reason, Karkat's hugs were the best at calming you down. You still felt bad that you’d sort of abandoned your boyfriend at an airport, but it wasn’t so strong it overtook all forms of rational thinking anymore.

“Guess this meeting was off to a shitty start, huh?” Karkat’s face still looked a bit splotchy, but his smile was real. 

“Guess so. You know what that means, right?”  
“McDonald’s run?” Karkat inquired.  
“McDonald’s run,” you confirmed.  
“Hell yeah.”

The words sounded so strange coming out of Karkat’s mouth that you couldn’t help the laugh that escaped you. Soon enough, Karkat started laughing too, and soon the air was filled with your rambunctious laughter. You found that you couldn’t care less about the side-eye other travelers shot your way. 

You pulled Karkat in for a kiss, gifts laying forgotten in the passenger seat, and he reciprocated with enthusiasm. It was soft and loving, and so much more than you could have ever dreamed of. For now, this moment rebertebrated in your bones. Karkat was here, and while things may be messy, you knew with full certainty you would both be ok, and for once everything was enough.


End file.
